Innholdsfortegnelse for Summer 2021 i F-Series Builder's Guide

“It was like a never-ending sea of chrome, with the distinct smell of carne asada coming from the barbecue pits just adding to my curiosity.” IT’S OCCURRED TO ME lately that although Chevy/ GMC C10s/C15s tend to grab a lot of the spotlight these days, historically speaking, Ford trucks have always kinda ruled when it comes to custom trucks. Some of my earliest memories of custom trucks involve F-100s. When I was about 9 years old, a neighbor down the street had a faded orange ’56 Effie that was slammed and sitting on turbine wheels and raised white letter Pos-A-Traction tires. The hood sat partially lifted, and when I dared sneak close enough to check it out one day, I could see the rusted, chrome Cadillac valve covers within the…

AN INDEPENDENT FRONT SUSPENSION IS one of the biggest drivability improvements you can make to your hotrod pickup. Fatman Fabrication’s kits are designed to install easily to your original frame rails without having to cut your truck in half. You won’t have the handling and tire-wear issues common to Twin I beams, which are made even worse when dropped beams are installed. Track width is correct for the truck, unlike the Crown Vic swap that is 7 inches wider than the stock suspension. Radiator, bumper and sheetmetal mounts are preserved while a nice drop is achieved. Options such as sway bars, dropped spindles, power rack, QA-1 coilovers and air ride let you dial in the stance that suits your style and wallet. Upgraded brake kits include 5x4.5 and 5x5.5-inch bolt…

IF YOU’RE A TRUCK GUY OR GAL LIVING anywhere close to the southeast corner of the country, you are probably already familiar with the largest car show and swap meet in the Sunshine State. Now in its 47th year, the legendary Turkey Run will be celebrating its golden Anniversary before too long. Always the largest automotive event in Florida and the largest combined car show and swap meet in the country, this show draws participants from around the country and often from around the world. Days before the gates at the Daytona International Speedway opened, Car Corral spaces were sold out along with Artisan Alley and vendor spaces. Swap Meet spaces were rapidly approaching capacity and were packed by Thanksgiving Day. Photos from the observation deck seven floors up showed…

DRIVING A CLASSIC TRUCK IN TODAY’S WORLD CAN be a little nerve-racking, what with all the distracted drivers on the road. From using cell phones to navigating GPS systems, many folks just aren’t paying as much attention as they should be. It doesn’t help that most older trucks lack big, bright taillights and brake lights. Compared to today’s modern trucks, the taillights on classics are small and dim. When you combine that with the lack of a now-common third brake light (a Center High Mount Stop Light, or CHMSL), which became mandatory on new cars in 1986 and trucks in 1994, you can sometimes feel like a sitting duck. The taillights on a ’54-’56 F-100—the same used through 1972 on Flareside trucks—are larger than most of the era, but they…

ALLEN HUTSON HAS THE LUXURY TO work side by side with his father. Back in June 1998, they were working in Temple, Georgia, on the railroad replacing a crossing when they spotted a 1951 Ford truck and a 1951 Ford Coupe nearby. They made a deal with the owners and took both home to Newport, Tennessee. Allen drove the truck around town for a couple of months, saving up money while deciding on a shop. He finally chose one in Georgia—but after five years of bad luck, including theft by deception, the truck was moved to another shop in Georgia called Lethal Performance. There, the bad luck changed to good. The crew began by using No Limit Engineering’s Ace Retro 8 Chassis including Wide Ride IFS. They installed 12-inch brakes,…

BED STRIPS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENT FOR securing the wood floor to the truck. They also allow you to drastically change the look and feel of a bed floor. BedWood is proud to announce a detailed variety of 100% USA made bed strips manufactured at the company’s Hopkinsville, Kentucky, facility. By integrating modern technology, BedWood is able to produce a more accurate, higher-quality bed strip in just a fraction of the time. “The addition of in-house CNC roll forming capabilities was a natural fit for us,” says company CEO Jeff Major. “This vertical integration not only allows us complete control over product quality, but it also decreases our already rapid ship times on these 100% USA made metal parts.” Made from USA-made 430 BA magnetic stainless steel or a…

THE USA-740 OFFERS Custom Autosound’s same classic look with today’s latest features. It now includes built-in Bluetooth, microphone included, that allows you to answer calls and get streaming music from your Bluetooth-compatible phone or device. A solid 300-watt peak power should be all the juice you need, but the USA-740 has Hi 4-volt, 4-channel RCA pre-outs and a subwoofer RCA pre-out for additional amplifiers. A USB input allows you to plug in a flash drive or thumb drive for playback of MP3/WMA/FLAC/WAV files, while a front mini jack auxiliary audio input and a rear RCA auxiliary audio input provide versatility for options like satellite radio, I-pod or any portable player you wish to use. Match the dominant color of your instrument cluster with user-selectable LCD color choices with LCD dimmer…

IN THE CUSTOM CAR scene, Steve Howle has been around the block a few times. He built his first hot rod back in 1987 and has had some sort of custom, Pro Street or drag car ever since. Some of these include a Pro Street ’81 Vette, a Pro Street 8-71 blown convertible Camaro and a Pro Street ’62 Bel-Air bubbletop. In addition, Steve has built and raced numerous drag cars, including two ’66 Chevy IIs, two ’69 Camaros, a turbocharged ’65 Corvette and his fastest car, a ’69 twin turbo Camaro that ran mid 7 second quarter-mile blasts at almost 190 mph! Steve is nearing his retirement years, so he has decided to mellow things down and build his final custom for the car show scene and late-night cruises.…

A LOT HAPPENED IN 1952 and 1953. Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected President in a landslide election against Adlai Stevenson, succeeding Harry S. Truman and inheriting the tail end of the Korean War. “Fahrenheit 451” was published for the first time, as was Playboy. Both raise alarm, but for very di›erent reasons. “Ford would produce about 654,000 of its new light-duty trucks for its first year! This would also be the year that Ford would make the switch to the triple-digit designation on F-Series trucks, a tradition that is still followed today.” On a more positive note, Burger King opened its first restaurant, as did a small joint named Danny’s Donuts, which would later become Denny’s. A new toy called Mr. Potato Head encouraged kids to eat their veggies, Walt…

ANYONE WHO KNOWS ME WILL TELL YOU I HATE going to the gas station. I’m not sure what it is, but it seems like an annoying waste of time. Because of that, I like big gas tanks and running them right to empty. I can tell you for a fact that my 2017 Super Crew will go at least 10 gallons past 0 miles to empty. Now, I know that many people will say that is not a good idea due to possible dirt or contamination collected at the bottom of the tank, but that has never caused any issues for me. Good filters and clean tanks have been my friend, so far. The ’56 F-100 that we have been modernizing from its previous hotrod roots has an Edelbrock fuel-injected…

SURPRISE! THIS FORD ISN’T A Bronco. Nope, not at all. It’s a 1969 Ranger. To achieve this look, it took merging a ’69 Ford Ranger and a ’72 Ford van. Keith Kyker and his crew Kyker Rod and Kustoms discussed creating this in a garage several times while building a bump-side truck for one of their customers. They finally decided to go for it while having pizza at a local pizza parlor. To get the frame on the ground, they started with a Chris Alston’s chassis with a custom 104-inch wheelbase and began chopping it up to achieve the look they were looking for. Slam Specialties RE-6 bags and a rack-and-pinion steering were used to lay the front at the proper ground clearance. Out back, Slam Specialties RE-7s and a…

FRED BISHOP’S TALE OF THIS gorgeous F-100 build (now affectionately known as El Diablo) begins seven years back or so. Fred’s Uncle Dave gave him a rough “fishing truck” that had been sitting for many years. Dave had purchased the truck brand new off the lot in ’71, so he didn’t just want to see it rot out in his field. Knowing that Fred would bring her back to life properly, the plans began like many of ours do. A modest restore and driver refresh was all that was on the table for this ol’ Bump, in the beginning. "Willie had a huge impact on the renewed vision and put in many late nights designing and building an air-ride chassis, subtle but smoothed body, and drivetrain that would meet Fred’s…

JERRY BLAND, A RETIRED engineer from Virginia Beach, Virginia, recalls the first time he saw the neighbor’s sparkling blue and white F-100 pickup. He was just a 10-year-old Kentucky farm kid back in 1956, but the truck clearly made a lasting impression. Over the years, he’s had his name on the title of lots of cool custom vehicles, but that iconic truck was always an elusive dream. Just a short 58 years later in 2014, Jerry decided to act on the dream, selling his ’60 Corvette to fund the new acquisition—a ’56 Ford located not far from his home, already equipped with an FE motor. His plan was to have the engine and transmission checked by professionals for safety and reliability, and then enjoy the process of personalizing the truck…

IN THE LAST ISSUE, WE WERE VISITING Comet Fab and Speed, LLC in Haltom City, Texas, checking out how the crew builds their budget cruiser chassis from scratch. In this issue, we will get insight into assembling the front suspension, and transferring a cab, bed and front sheetmetal from an original F-100 chassis to one of Comet’s slammer chassis and one of its “no cut” chassis. Read along while the guys at  Comet perform the transition. SOURCE COMET FAB AND SPEED 817-988-9956 cometfabandspeed@gmail.com IG@cometfab73 01 This clean, rust-free Texas truck is the one will use to fit to the chassis. Short on time, the guys at Comet had already begun disassembling the truck, which can often consume a lot of time due to rusty hardware that can be difficult to remove.…